Hello everyone,
And welcome back to this year’s German learning calendar, door number five, and it arguably has the most obscure title so far.
I mean… Anne, Aufer, Zues. Looks a bit like it could be names, but it isn’t.
What it is is a bit of colloquial German for you that you absolutely won’t find in a textbook, but that you MIGHT come across in real life here and that might be very, very confusing.
Let’s look at an actual example and see if you can figure it out :)
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You know I’ve ever heard my examiner during an oral exam saying “Die zeit ist um” and ofc using common sense I knew she wanted to say time’s up but I just wondered how she used um like that. It even made me begin doubting and wonder if that’s what she really meant.. but now thanks to your explanation it’s all clear now… thanks for that!
Danke
Sehr Tol! Danke!
didn’t know this, great article!
Really interesting Danke
Are you sure you’re not just trolling?! Is it regional? My partner said the first one (auf/zu) sounded kinda ok, but the later ones (an/um) sound too weird and he doesn’t think he’s ever heard them before. I definitely haven’t, but now it’s going to be my mission in life to find them in the wild…
It’s possible that it’s a regional thing, but I’m from Berlin and I did find “zue Tür” mentioned in a post about Sauerländer dialect, whcih is absolutely NOT the same.
Also, there’s linguistic paper about it but it was paywalled so I didn’t read it. It has “zue Tür” in the title.
I doubt it is regional, actually, because it does kind of mirror a use of “hinter” and “unter” that is absolute standard German
– das hintere Zimmer
– die untere Schublade
This is not really the same, but it’s the same pattern.
Where’s your partner from? And how old is he?
Little update: I asked on Reddit, just to scope out the space a bit an apparently, it’s more widespread in the North and less common in the South, with Austria not being able to decide whether they know it or not.
And in BW and Bavaria, they actually say “zuene” instead of “zue”.
here’s the link if you want to check out the replies:
https://www.reddit.com/r/German/comments/1pf6fle/zue_t%C3%BCr_anner_herd_anner_motor/
Well this clarifies a bit, I’m glad you took it to Reddit. My partner is from Bavaria near Munich and he’s 35. He is fluent in the dialect too. I will ask him about “zuene.”
let us know please.
He said he has probably heard both (zue/zuene) equally, but they both still sound wrong and he would never say them. And like I said before, the other words other than auf/zu, he said he’s never even heard used like that.
Could you ask him about “apper Arm”? I’m curious if he gets it :)
He said “it kind of makes sense and I would get it in certain contexts, but I don’t know why you would need to use it.” To be fair, he seems to get easily annoyed by incorrect grammar, so he’s no fun for some of these discussions :D
“why you would need to use it?”
I mean… there is like NO shorter way to talk about an arm that’s detached from the body… “apper Arm”. Impossible to beat in shortness.
But yeah, it’s not going to convince him, I know :)
Hello Emanuel
Please add voice example thing, it’s more engaging!
I don’t really have the time to do that right now. Maybe I can add them later this month when things calm down a bit. Right now, I’m happy if I get a post out every day and stay on top of the comments.
Can I use “aus” to indicate that something is over?
Z.b. “Ich verlasse die ausse Party”
Hmm, I’d understand but a native speaker wouldn’t say that. “vorbeie Party” is what I’d say if I wanted to use this phrasing. Or “overe Party” if I feel extra hyper colloquial.
Love it!!
Neu bei mir auch und super interessant.
Neu für mich, sagt man :)
Hallo,
Seems like you have a Typoohner article ;)
Ganz ganz neu!!! Have NEVER come across this, or maybe I have and just filed it into the “didn’t understand what they said” box.
Thanks for this, love these articles where we learn “improper” German that people actually use :)
Bis morgen!
Interesting try!!
I was now thinking if I can make “ohne” work in that way somehow, but it’s it is so connected to whatever it is that is missing that it doesn’t really work.
Same for “mit”.
– Ein mitter Glühwein und ein ohner..
In theory, this could mean a Glühwein with a shot of rum, but the way people say it is just “ein Glühwein mit und einer ohne”.
Das war ganz neu bei mir!!!
Kleine Korrektur: neu für mich.
Sehr interessant!
Das war einer der interessantesten Beiträge, die ich hier je gelesen habe.
google translate sure doesn’t like them.
Kann ich sage dann “Ich habe einen aufen Verstand”. ? like, I have an open mind (about these words) it translates “I have a sanity” :D
So “Verstand” and “mind” are not exactly a perfect match and in this instance, I would not use them as translations. “mind” is much more holistic in my mind at least, while “Verstand” is more focused on reasoning ability, logic and common sense.
And “open” in a sense of being open to new information or experience is “offen” in German. That’s one of the instances where “auf” does not actually work :).
No idea what Google translate was doing there, I think it just ignored “aufen”.
So maybe ‘auferhalb’ could be on the open side of something? :)
LOLOL, this is cute.
To me, it sounds more like “on top of” and I could see this used in a marketing campaign for a hotel high up on a mountain above a city or something.
– Mach mal Urlaub auferhalb.
Sehr interessant, das wusste ich nicht.